This all-encompassing contemporary art museum started life as a summer mansion of the Khedive clan, the Istanbul-based hereditary rulers of Egypt which left several royal piles along Bosphorus. It also served as the Montenegrin Embassy before being purchased in all its vastness by Haci Ömer Sabanci, a leading industrialist and the initial force behind the Sabanci Holdings Conglomerate. From 1966 the next head of the family, Sakip Sabanci, called it home and filled it with his expansive collection of Turkish art and calligraphy. A public museum since 2002, the permanent collection also includes works by Raphael and local boy Osman Hamdi Bey, plus photographic and archaeological exhibits. The museum has the space to display serious temporary shows including major Dalí, Rodin and Picasso exhibitions. A day of culture can be complemented by lunch in the museum’s acclaimed MüzedeChanga restaurant, tea in the winter garden or a show in the Seed, an architecturally-advanced art and meeting space that opened in 2011.